Improvement in scaffolding



UNITED STATES BENJAMIN J. Piiifi'lfs, or Wanna-rose, onto.

IMPROVEMENT lN SCAFFOLDlNG.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 186,616, dated January 23, 1877; application filed September 23, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN J. Forms, of

Williamsport, in th county of Morrow and State of Ohio, have invented a new and use.

ful Improvement in Roof-Scaffold, of which the following is a specification:

My object is to increase the safety of the scaffold, to render its adjustment and use convenient, and save much time in the work over the plans now used.

The scaffold proper for the workman is securely held in position for work by a notched or toothed jack-piece combined with a pivoted yoke or dog, and a vise which carries it, whereby the scaffolding is raised up the roof and supported, as required, by the interlocking yoke-dog and jack-piece, with the rise clamped to the roof-eaves, as the point from which the scaffold is both adjusted and secured. With this means for adjusting and securing the scaffold I have combined a flexible roof-lad der, by means of which the materials are carried up to the roof from the wall-ladder, and which is maintained in position by the scaffold.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a view in perspective of my improved scaffold in the position it occupies when applied for use; Fig. 2, the vise and its hinged yoke-dog.

The scaffold A is of any suitable construction and adapted to rest upon the roof. It is supported and adjusted, as may be required, by means of a jack-piece, B, the upper end of which is detachably secured to the scaffold by being fitted into a socket, G, therein, and a staple, D, which gives the advantage of having the long jack-piece separated from the scaffold and allow of their ready secure attachment for use. The jack piece B has notches or projections c, preferably on one of its edges, at distances apart equal'to the distance the scali'old is raised for each row or rows of shingles or slate as the work progresses, and into these notches a yoke-dog, E, takes in a manner to hold and clamp the jackpiece to or against a vise, E, which is securely clamped to the roof-eaves. The yoke-dog is secured by the screw-bolt which clamps the vise, the fastening being such as to allow the yoke-dog to swing upon the bolt as the jackpiece is raised, so that the inclined sides of its notches will pass over the cross-bar e of the dog and fall or catch into the next lower notch. In this position the yoke-dog hangs down from the vise, inclined so that the downward pressure upon the dog will force and clamp the jack-piece hard against the side of the vise, and hold it secure as the jack passes through the yoke and hangs upon its end bar.

The vise is an angle-iron, and the screwbolt G passes through its upper arm and carries a cross clamp-bar, H, provided with spurs c, which, with the spurs 'i on the lower arm, bite into the upper and lower sides of the roof-eaves, and, with the clamp-screw bearing firmly upon clamp-bar, makes the vise secure and the scaffold entirely safe, easily raised from one holding-point to another, and readily shifted from one point to another along the caves of the roof. No nailing is required. In connection with the scaffold I employ'a flexible ladder, I, arranged at one side of the jack-piece, and hooked or otherwise secured to the scaffold-boards, so as to lie upon the roof. As the scaffold is shifted the ladder is moved with it.

The ladder may be of any suitable construction, and is detached from the scaffold when desired for use. I

All theparts are separate and easily put together.

The ladder is used on the roof only to dispense with the nailing of cleats. The scaffold is in sections from twelve to sixteen feet long, with a vise at each end of the section to accommodate any length of roof.

I claim 1. The scaffold having a jack piece, by which it is supported and adjusted,-in combination with a vise fixed to the eaves, and having a hinged look yoke or dog, whereby the jack-piece is supported and clamped to the vise, and is free to be raised for work over the roof with the scaffold, and the dog take its hold with the jack.

2. The jack-piece B, detachably secured to the scaffold by the socket O and the staple D, as and for the purpose stated.

3. The jack-piece B, having notches a or projections, spaced as described, and combined for use with the yoke-dog E- through-which it to the clamp-screw, and the several parts conpasses, and the vise F, against which it is structed as herein set forth.

clamped by the weight of the scaifl'old.

4. The combination, with the jack-piece B, B. J. POTTS. having notches a inclined at one side, of the Witnesses: yoke-dog E e, the clamp-screw and its bar G O. H. GHAMBERLIN,

H, and the vise F, the yoke-dog being hinged MINER DYE. 

